Over the next two years it could even climb as high as £1.46, they said. Petrol currently costs an average of £1.13 per litre following a month of almost daily price rises. There is already anecdotal evidence that motorists are "downsizing" their vehicles because fuel costs for family cars are now so high. Some face bills of more than £70 when filling up popular saloons and there is little prospect of price cuts.

Ministers are also facing a wave of disruptive fuel protests organised by hauliers struggling to cope with the rising cost of diesel. Around 260 petrol stations, many in far-flung parts of Scotland and Wales, have already broken through the £6-a-gallon (£1.31-a-litre) barrier for diesel.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is planning to bring in a 2p rise in fuel duty this autumn and an increase in vehicle excise duty next year, which means some popular family cars will see their road tax bills double. However, the Treasury will pick up a windfall of more than £1 billion from the higher oil price and is now under pressure to abandon the tax rises.

The equivalent of almost 100 children a week ended up in hospital because of their drinking in 2006/7, according to data from the National Health Service. The figures also found, overall, the number of people admitted to wards in England due to their drinking has doubled in just over a decade.

In total 207,800 people were admitted to wards because of their drinking, either they were drunk, had liver cirrhosis or a secondary disorder such as heart disease brought on by heavy drinking. They may also have been injured or assaulted while drunk.

Soaring food prices are the cause of the huge bill - likely to be up 26% on the 2007 total - said the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The most economically vulnerable countries will bear the biggest burden, the report said, with costs rising 40%. But the FAO said there were signs that some food prices were starting to fall.

However, it said prices were "unlikely" to return to the low levels of previous years - largely because of the higher costs associated with food production, primarily fuel. The need to replenish stocks and the expected greater consumption - or utilisation - of crops, meant that demand would stay high, the report added. In its analysis, the FAO said that developing countries have felt the cost of food inflation far more than wealthier nations.

"Rice has caught the headlines in recent weeks, but from dairy to wheat and soybeans to sugar, price spikes and market volatility appear to have become more the norm than the exception," the report said. "Soaring food prices have led to serious difficulties, especially for vulnerable population groups that spend a substantial part of their incomes on food."

The latest surge was driven by data showing that supplies of crude in the US had fallen by 5.4 million barrels. Higher oil prices push up the price of fuel at the garage forecourt, home energy bills, air travel and food. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is working with international partners to persuade the Opec oil producers' cartel to increase supply.

His spokeswoman said that Mr Brown recognised the increases were having an effect on UK consumers and he would be raising this at the forthcoming EU and G8 summits. But one analyst said Mr Brown's efforts were likely to prove in vain and political pressure should, instead, be exerted on leading producers to invest more in long-term capacity.

"All this excess profit that has been generated by the oil industry really needs to be invested in refineries, pipelines and oil wells," Francisco Blanch, head of global commodities research at Merrill Lynch, told the BBC.
"This is what the market is asking for at the moment and we just need to ensure? we have the political goodwill also supporting this investment." Opec has so far blamed price rises on speculators and says there is no shortage of oil. All but three of Opec's members are already at their maximum daily limits for oil output and pressure has grown on Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, which do have spare capacity.

Investors moving money into oil from other areas have also been blamed for rising prices. "Oil has performed better than equities and bonds," said Victor Shum from the energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.
"There is money looking for better returns and oil has offered better returns and continues to offer better returns."

The negotiations, mediated by Turkey, are the first for eight years. If an agreement is reached, the map of the Middle East would be redrawn and the region's strategic balance changed dramatically. Both sides have much to gain from a settlement. Syria wants the return of the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied during the Six Day War of 1967. Meanwhile, Israel wants Syria to break its alliance with Iran and stop supporting Hizbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Syria's foreign ministry said that negotiations through Turkish mediators had begun and both sides "expressed their desire to conduct the talks in goodwill and decided to continue dialogue with seriousness to achieve comprehensive peace".

Most Israelis oppose any withdrawal from the Golan Heights, where 18,000 Jewish settlers live. America's role in the peace talks is uncertain. In the past, Washington has opposed openings to Mr Assad.

"This is unacceptable. People must not take the law into their own hands simply because they suspected someone," said Mwangi Ngunyi, the head of Nyamaiya district. "We will hunt the suspects down," he added. The gang of about 100 people moved from house to house late Tuesday, tied up their victims and set them ablaze, the official said.

Ngunyi added that the mob also torched 50 houses in Nyakeo village, located some 300 kilometres (180 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi. "I can't believe my wife of many years would be killed so brutally by people who cannot prove their case even before God," said Enoch Obiero, a pastor. "My mother has always been a role model to the entire village and why the mob had to kill her will remain a mystery to me forever," lamented 32-year-old Emily Monari.

The region, populated mainly by the Kisii tribe, has been dubbed Kenya's "sorcery belt" due to mob attacks on women suspected of witchcraft. Efforts by the authorities to clamp down on vigilante and mob justice have been unsuccessful.

The agreement, reached after six days of Arab-mediated talks, also paved the way for the election of a new president. Parliament will convene on Sunday to elect army chief General Michel Suleiman as head of state, aides to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told Reuters in Qatar, where the feuding sides signed the accord.

The agreement between the US-backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition resolved a dispute over a law for holding 2009 parliamentary elections and met the opposition's long-standing demand for veto power in cabinet. It followed a Hezbollah military campaign this month against the ruling coalition which bolstered the opposition's political strength.

Foreign backers of both sides, including the US, France, Iran and Syria, welcomed the deal. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was A "POSITIVE STEP" TOWARDS RESOLVING THE CRISIS. Lebanese politicians say the search for a resolution has been complicated by the factions' ties to competing foreign states.

This is the main type of hybrid embryo that scientists want to use - because of a shortage of donated human eggs - to create embryonic stem cells to find cures for conditions like Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.

Gordon Brown launched an impassioned defence of the need for hybrid embryos over the weekend, calling it an "inherently moral endeavour". His younger son Fraser has cystic fibrosis, a condition which could benefit from such embryo research.

But some critics are horrified by such "FRANKENSTEIN SCIENCE". Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland says HYBRID EMBRYO RESEARCH IS "MONSTROUS" and should be banned.

Chinese Minister of Taiwan Affairs Chen Yunlin, speaking two days after Ma Ying-jeou became Taiwan's new president, ending the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party's troubled eight-year rule, said both sides were making "positive" efforts to resume negotiations. There is no timetable for talks. "WE UNDERSTAND, TRUST AND CARE ABOUT TAIWAN COMPATRIOTS AND RESPECT THE DESIRE OF TAIWAN COMPATRIOTS TO BE MASTERS OF THEIR OWN DESTINY," Chen said in a statement carried by Xinhua news agency.

It was China's first response to Ma's inauguration speech on Tuesday in which he offered to reopen dialogue but pledged to maintain Taipei's self-rule and separate international profile. China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since their split in 1949 when Mao Zedong's Red Army won the civil war and drove Chiang Kai-shek's defeated Nationalists troops fleeing to Taiwan. In an overture, Chen said China and Taiwan faced a "RARE AND IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY" FOR RECONCILIATION after Ma won the March presidential elections by a landslide.

But no further comment came from Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman, when asked about the issue by Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent at the White House. At today's White House news briefing, he asked, "WorldNetDaily reports that more than 31,000 U.S. scientists, including 9,000 PhD's, now have signed a petition rejecting global warming, the assumption that human production of greenhouse gases is damaging the earth's climate. My question: What is the White House reaction to these 31,000 U.S. scientists?" Perino responded "I WOULD SAY THAT EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OPINION. What's your next question?" Kinsolving asked, "That's all?" She said "That's all I'm going to say."

MORE THAN 31,000 SCIENTISTS ACROSS THE U.S. - INCLUDING MORE THAN 9,000 PhD's in fields such as atmospheric science, climatology, earth science, environment and dozens of other specialties - have signed a petition rejecting "global warming," the assumption that the human production of greenhouse gases is damaging earth's climate.

"THERE IS NO CONVINCING SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the earth's atmosphere and disruption of the earth's climate," the petition states. "Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the earth."

"Mr. Gore's movie, ASSERTING A 'CONSENSUS' AND 'SETTLED SCIENCE' in agreement about human-caused global warming, conveyed the claims about human-caused global warming to ordinary movie goers and to public school children, to whom the film was widely distributed. Unfortunately, Mr. Gore's movie contains MANY VERY SERIOUS INCORRECT CLAIMS WHICH NO INFORMED, HONEST SCIENTIST COULD ENDORSE," said project spokesman and founder Art Robinson.

Robinson said unfavorable energy plans damage the U.S. energy production, increase dependence of foreign oil and actually have nothing to do with energy itself, BUT EVERYTHING TO DO WITH POWER, CONTROL AND MONEY, WHICH THE UNITED NATIONS IS SEEKING. He accused the U.N. of violating human rights in its campaign to ban much energy research, exploration and development.

Many were living Tuesday in tent cities like one at the base of Qianfo mountain in the disaster zone, offering some stability - along with food and medical care - to those whose lives were upended. The government issued an urgent appeal Tuesday for tents and brought in the first foreign teams of doctors and field hospitals, some of whom were swapping out with overseas search and rescue specialists.

The switch underscored a shift in the response to China's worst disaster in three decades from an emergency stage to one of recovery - and for many, enduring hardship. The bad weather and thousands of aftershocks in the mountainous disaster zone will compound difficulties for military, government and private workers trying to deliver food, water and tents to ensure millions of homeless get shelter.

With downpours forecast for the next two days, Premier Wen Jiabao urged the Water Resources Ministry to send experts into quake-hit areas for 24-hour patrols of dams and reservoirs that could break their banks and cause flooding.

The agreement announced Tuesday also calls for MERCK TO SUBMIT ALL NEW TV COMMERCIALS FOR ITS DRUGS TO THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION FOR REVIEW. The civil settlement ends investigations by 29 states and the District of Columbia into Merck's advertising practices involving Vioxx, Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said.

Vioxx was taken off the market in 2004 after research showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes. That triggered thousands of lawsuits against Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck. A pending $4.85 BILLION SETTLEMENT would end the bulk of those personal injury suits. Thanks to aggressive marketing through direct-to-consumer television ads begun in 1999, hundreds of thousands of consumers demanded Vioxx prescriptions before doctors had a chance to understand the side effects, Corbett said.

The agreement calls for Merck, for the next seven years, to submit all new TV commercials for its drugs to the FDA for review and follow through with any changes the agency recommends before airing them. Additionally, for a 10-year period Merck must comply with any FDA recommendations to delay television advertising for newly approved pain medications. MERCK IS ALSO PROHIBITED FROM "GHOSTWRITING," a practice in which people who worked for the company or were otherwise connected to it allegedly wrote positive articles and studies about Vioxx, Corbett said.

In February, MERCK AGREED TO PAY $671 MILLION to settle claims it overcharged the government for Vioxx and three other popular drugs and bribed doctors to prescribe its drugs. The announcement by federal prosecutors was one of the biggest U.S. health care fraud settlements ever.

"An article in today's Jerusalem Post about the President's position on Iran that quotes unnamed sources - quoting unnamed sources - is not worth the paper it's written on," said White House press secretary Dana Perino this morning, in a statement e-mailed to the press around 9 a.m. The story quotes a "senior official in Jerusalem" who alleged that "a senior member of [President Bush's] entourage" mentioned the war plans in meetings last week, when Mr. Bush was in Israel.

"Let me respond by reaffirming the policy of the Administration," Mrs. Perino said this morning. "We, along with our international allies who want peace in the Middle East, remain opposed to Iran's ambitions to obtain a nuclear weapon. To that end, WE ARE WORKING TO BRING TOUGH DIPLOMATIC AND ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON THE IRANIANS to get them to change their behavior and to halt their uranium enrichment program," she said.

Mrs. Perino added this morning: "As the President has said, NO PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SHOULD EVER TAKE OPTIONS OFF THE TABLE, but our preference and our actions for dealing with this matter remain through peaceful diplomatic means. Nothing has changed in that regard."

World leaders have hounded OPEC to pump more as prices hurtle towards $130 per barrel, but Badri said the organization would not act on production levels until it was warranted by market fundamentals. "THERE IS A LOT OF OIL IN THE MARKET, STOCKS ARE VERY HIGH, ABOUT 53 DAYS FORWARD," he said in an interview with Reuters during a visit to OPEC founding member Venezuela. "WE ARE WORRIED BECAUSE THESE PRICES HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SUPPLY AND DEMAND."

The International Energy Agency on May 13 reported that oil stocks in OECD countries equaled 53.3 days of demand in March, at the same time revising down its forecast for world oil demand growth in 2008 because of record prices and slower economic growth. Oil prices topping $129 per barrel have sparked anger from consumer nations that have accused OPEC of gouging, but Badri said the boom in oil prices has lifted commodities prices across the board, which has made it more expensive to pump oil.

"I'm not an advocate of high oil prices," he said, adding that the situation "is not a bonanza for us" BECAUSE HIGHER PRICES FOR COMMODITIES RANGING FROM FOOD TO STEEL HAVE CREATED NEW EXPENSES FOR PRODUCER NATIONS.

The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow. THE MEASURE PASSED IN A 324-84 VOTE, A BIG ENOUGH MARGIN TO OVERRIDE A PRESIDENTIAL VETO. The legislation also creates a Justice Department task force to aggressively investigate gasoline price gouging and energy market manipulation.

"This bill guarantees that oil prices will reflect supply and demand economic rules, instead of wildly speculative and perhaps illegal activities," said Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin, who sponsored the legislation. The lawmaker said Americans "are at the mercy" of OPEC for how much they pay for gasoline, which this week hit a record average of $3.79 a gallon.

The White House opposes the bill, saying that targeting OPEC investment in the United States as a source for damage awards "WOULD LIKELY SPUR RETALIATORY ACTION AGAINST AMERICAN INTERESTS IN THOSE COUNTRIES AND LEAD TO A REDUCTION IN OIL AVAILABLE TO U.S. REFINERS." The administration said less oil going to refineries would limit available gasoline supplies and raise fuel prices.